The irreducible epistemic atoms underlying the curriculum. 4,828 atoms across 8 types and 2 molecules
Design pre-commitment rules during cold cognitive states (well-rested, calm, not under deadline pressure) to constrain behavior during hot cognitive states (stressed, depleted, emotionally activated), never vice versa.
Separate the decision to continue a slow-feedback strategy from subjective feelings of progress by defining persistence duration in advance, because delayed systems provide zero felt momentum before delivering concentrated results.
Set Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) that define maximum acceptable downtime and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) that define maximum acceptable data loss before a failure occurs, not during crisis.
Before any contested time block arrives, define the allocation rule (priority ordering, rotation schedule, or time-slice) that resolves contention in advance rather than negotiating access when the block arrives.
Define explicit override conditions for information boundaries in advance (on-call status, time-sensitive requests from key people) rather than negotiating exceptions in the moment when anxiety will generate spurious justifications.
Structure commitments at enforcement Level 3 or higher (environmental modification, social contract, or structural impossibility) rather than Level 1-2 (intention or implementation intention alone) when the commitment is irreversible, high-stakes, or has failed three or more times on willpower.
Match the binding strength of commitment devices to the documented severity and frequency of past failures in that domain, using hard pre-commitments (physical impossibility or high cost) only for behaviors with long track records of in-the-moment failure.
Design exit criteria as state-plus-date pairs (observable condition + time horizon) rather than feeling-based thresholds, because feelings in the moment are precisely what the criteria exist to override.
Before high-stakes interactions where your default pressure response typically fires, pre-script an implementation intention using the format: 'When I notice [specific somatic cue of my default], I will [specific alternative action] before [default response].'
Treat pre-decisions as defaults that activate automatically unless new information justifies override, distinguishing genuine context changes from familiar resistance wearing the costume of novelty.
Limit pre-decision scope to meaningful activity levels—what to eat, work on, when to exercise—not to fifteen-minute blocks, to avoid replacing decision fatigue with compliance fatigue.
Set your calendar's default meeting duration to match your actual most-common meeting length (e.g., 25 minutes if that's what you schedule 90% of the time) to convert repeated decisions into one-time pre-commitment.